Hey njpg,
I want to thanks you for your review, the subject of board recordings being a hard listen is a pretty common issue that I keep forgetting to comment on. I have done live sound for around 20 years and have made many board recordings. I believe the nature of a sound persons job is to create a balanced mix of all stage sources like mics or direct signals.
In my experience with board recordings anything that was loud in the performance space will probably be quiet on a stereo mix straight from the master buss to tape.
Anything that is quiet onstage tends to get pushed harder through the Stereo Master out and is louder on tape. You are recording the same signals you are pushing to the PA for the audience to hear.
The result I have found most commonly with board mixes of electric music is usually something like this:
Loud vocals
Loud Percussion!
Loud/Medium lead instruments/drums
Medium/quiet supporting instruments
Quiet/Inaudible poorly played instruments/bad lines that have noisy or no signal.
Not sure if that helps when you listen to these recordings but it helps me.
If they are recorded straight from the master stereo buss and there’s no other option the recordings are a crap shoot depending on the stage volume. Fortunately Owsley loved to roll out 4/8/&16 multi-channel tape machines that allowed for mixing after the fact, those are the downloads to look for. Schweet : )
Happy searching y’all

You can tell right away from the crystal-clear harmonies on Casey Jones that the boys meant business tonight. Epic Lovelight. Warm, deep, reasonably clear SBD for the era.

I find most SBD tapes of shows sound-managed by Stanley to be very brittle-sounding, and they seem also to have begun a long tradition of mixing the guys' vocals WAY too prominent in the mix. None of that is a problem here, however: if anything the sound of this one benefits from a scooped EQ.

Check out 19:55 in Lovelight.

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~^|\_@|@_/|^~
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Classic 69' Soundboard.

Amazing quality for such a "primitive" time in the recording industry.

I recommend adding this show to your 1969 GRATEFUL DEAD collection. It's a "must have" show if you were there.

So, Woodstock is over, we've landed on the Moon, Vietnam war protests are getting bigger and the GRATEFUL DEAD are gathering a larger and larger audience. Nixon is in the White House and the DEAD are in Crockett, CA puttin on a show for the "kids".

The town of Crockett is in Contra Costa County, of California, just north of Berkeley & Oakland.

In 1969 I imagine Crockett was a nice place to live, it's very different today.

If you're a fan of Pigpen like I am, you're gonna want this show. It sounds like Pigpen's playin organ on several songs.

The "original" GRATEFUL DEAD playin' like they could care less if they ever have a record contract.

Wonderful 1969 setlist with "new" songs from Workingmans Dead.

Don't expect CCS/INYR to sound like Euro 72'...kids....in 1969 things were very different.
The GRATEFUL DEAD didn't want to make the record companies richer.

Garcia sings harmony with Pigpen on NTYSM.

A lot of our favorite GRATEFUL DEAD songs performed at this show don't have the familiar arrangements we are used to, except for Pigpen's material, his stuff had to be rehearsed...

Pigpen's material is tighter than the rest of the show. "Turn On Your Lovelight"is 42:23 long.

I recommend using your EQ during playback of most of the shows on the IA, this one included.

Windows Media Player has a 10 band EQ and SRS WOW effects that enhance the sound.

Here's one way to download this show:

The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer.

RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com. It has a free 3 band EQ you can use for streaming/downloading.

Using RealPlayer to view this webpage, click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist. If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer.

Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it.

When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder. Repeat these steps for each song.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the LOVE from 1969

PS: Get em' while you can, get em' while they're free, get em' now or you'll be sorry...the Man giveth and the Man taketh away...WTTW